Whale and Starry Ocean Dream
Stable DiffusionWhale and Starry Ocean Dream is a tested Stable Diffusion SDXL 1.0 prompt for childrens book work. It runs at Stable Diffusion SDXL 1.0 · Aspect ratio 3:2 · Steps 34 · CFG scale 7 · Sampler DPM++ 2M Karras, and ships below with the exact prompt text, usage notes, and 2 pasteable variations.
Last tested: July 2026 with Stable Diffusion SDXL 1.0
Part of the Stable Diffusion prompt library · see more watercolor prompts .
Prompt
a dreamy children's book illustration of an enormous gentle blue whale drifting through a starlit night sky as if it were water, a small child in pyjamas sitting safely on its back looking up, trailing ribbons of stardust behind the fins, distant sleeping town far below, deep indigo and soft teal palette with warm gold stars, painterly storybook style, serene and safe
Negative prompt
blurry, low quality, scary, dark horror, sharp teeth, deformed hands, extra limbs, photorealistic, text, watermark, harsh contrast
Settings
- Model
- Stable Diffusion SDXL 1.0
- Aspect ratio
- 3:2
- Steps
- 34
- CFG scale
- 7
- Sampler
- DPM++ 2M Karras
How to use this prompt
"As if it were water" is the clause that makes the surreal premise land — drop it and SDXL tends to render an ordinary underwater scene with stars pasted on top, which reads as a mistake rather than a dream. Keep the child small and seated: figures at distance sidestep SDXL's weakest area, faces and hands, and a small silhouette also sells the whale's scale better than a detailed portrait would. "Serene and safe" plus the negative-prompt guards are not decoration here; a giant animal looming over a lone child is one word away from menacing, and bedtime illustration cannot afford that. The distant sleeping town gives the eye a floor — without it the whale floats in featureless space and the composition loses its sense of height.
Variations to try
- Sibling version — "two children sitting back to back on the whale, sharing a blanket" for a story with more than one character
- Underwater mirror — "the same whale and child below the surface among glowing jellyfish" as a facing-page spread
Explore collections
What to do next
Adapt it →
Open this prompt in the Stable Diffusion builder, pre-filled, and change one layer at a time.
Explore more →
Browse the full Stable Diffusion prompt library — every entry tested with its settings.
For developers — copy this prompt as JSON
{
"title": "Whale and Starry Ocean Dream",
"prompt": "a dreamy children's book illustration of an enormous gentle blue whale drifting through a starlit night sky as if it were water, a small child in pyjamas sitting safely on its back looking up, trailing ribbons of stardust behind the fins, distant sleeping town far below, deep indigo and soft teal palette with warm gold stars, painterly storybook style, serene and safe",
"negative_prompt": "blurry, low quality, scary, dark horror, sharp teeth, deformed hands, extra limbs, photorealistic, text, watermark, harsh contrast",
"model": "Stable Diffusion",
"model_version": "SDXL 1.0",
"settings": {
"aspect_ratio": "3:2",
"steps": 34,
"cfg": 7,
"sampler": "DPM++ 2M Karras"
},
"style_tags": [
"watercolor",
"fantasy"
],
"use_case_tags": [
"childrens-book",
"illustration"
],
"source_url": "https://promptkoi.com/prompts/stable-diffusion/whale-starry-ocean-dream/"
}The whole library is available as an open JSON dataset · developer docs.
